Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
My family is usually raucous and loud no matter where we are, but we’re all quiet and on guard as we follow Vlad’s ‘son’ out of the courtyard and into a corridor that finally leads into the wood and stone fortress. Are all the other twenty or so men in the courtyard really his sons? I can tell they’re vampires, but we have so little information on the creatures, we do not even know how they are created.
“We will send someone to the local town for food,” says the man leading us. A chilling reminder that our hosts don’t need to eat. Which makes me curious about how they meet the needs of their peculiar dietary requirements.
“Here is our guest wing,” the man says once we get to an inner corridor, gesturing ahead. “You have your pick of five guest suites. Father suggests you rest for the evening. He and Phoenix will meet you, Layden, to discuss security concerns in an hour.”
“And me,” Abaddon adds. “I am the patriarch of this family.”
The man looks like he wants to argue but finally nods. “And you, then. But the rest of you,” he looks us all over briefly, “can rest until we meet again in the morning to talk over more details of your stay.”
Kharon nods, putting a large glamoured arm around Ksenia and heading toward the closest room, obviously only wanting to get his wife and daughter to a place to rest. It’s understandable, considering the woman just gave birth. I don’t know much about human females, but I understand that birthing another being is generally quite an ordeal.
Normally, I would be feeling a flutter inside to get up to some mischief or other considering all the possibilities of this place. . . but I find myself also experiencing some strangely mundane protective feelings. I decide to be annoyed about that another time. At the moment, all I want is to put a thick door between Lo-Ren and anything with fangs.
I put an arm around her shoulder and start to direct her to the door beside Kharon’s, at the last moment detouring one room further down. Babies cry, and I don’t want us to be disturbed tonight.
Chapter Twenty-Four
LAUREN
As soon as Remus closes the door behind us, I grab his arm. “Oh my gosh, this is officially the creepiest place I’ve ever been,” I whisper, looking around a room that looks like a fine hotel suite, if the interior decorator had a fetish for black. At least it wasn’t black and red—that would have been a little too on the nose.
Instead, there’s a black accent wall behind the large king-sized bed, with textured wallpaper on the other three walls. There are no windows. Naturally, I think, a moment later. Is this where visiting vampires sleep? Just how many of them were out there, anyway? How has a whole world been hiding right within the one I knew?
Then again, from what Remus said, he’d only seen one vampire before, and he and his brothers have been around forever. But I shudder as I remember the other things the head honcho guy had talked about. “And what the hell is a dybbuk?”
Remus just waves a hand. “I wouldn’t worry about that. They’re probably just a myth.”
“Like vampires?” I ask with a hand on my hip. “And the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?”
He shrugs and comes closer. “All that matters now is that we’re safe.”
“For the moment.”
With another shrug, he wraps his arms around my waist and draws me close. “This moment is all we need.”
I let out a little huff, staring up at his strange, glamoured face. “It’s weird not being able to see you.”
“I’m still here. And what, I thought you’d like this more handsome me?”
I frown at him. “I like you just the way you are. And I miss your tail and wings.”
He cracks a grin at that. “For once, I’m trying to be a good boy and follow Abaddon’s rules. He says to keep the glamour on at all times here. But I still have these two hands.”
He drops them down my waist, curving around to my backside and squeezing. “Even when I was plucking planes out of the air today, I could still taste remnants of your essence on my tongue. You drive me wild, beautiful one.” Then he quirks an eyebrow, far less dramatically than usual in his glamoured state. “Or perhaps I should say, you drive me tame.”
“I don’t ever want to tame you.” I frown.
He chuckles. “It might not be the worst thing in the world. Even I can admit sometimes I get a little. . .” his head goes side to side, “. . . unpredictable at times.”
Which makes me laugh. How on earth can he make me comfortable enough to laugh here? Maybe because when I’m with him, even in what feels like a dangerous place, I feel at home. That’s a wild thought, and it feels risky to think. Also far too soon. It’s probably just the leftovers from the multiple rushes of adrenaline today.